Copy-holder.



N0.741,894. I PATENTED UGT. 2o, 1903..

T. M..DU RHAM & A. PBBK.

- COPY HOLDER. ,A

APP'LIOTION FILED PEB. 7 l 9 0 3.

No. rege-za.

NITED STATES Patented october 2o, 190e.

4PATErVr @Frisia COPY-Homan.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,894, dated October 20, 1903.

Application tied February v. igea serial No. 142.414. in@ moda.)

To LtZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known Athat we, FRANK M. DURHAM and ALBERT PEEK, citizens of the United States, residing at Aurora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invented a new and. useful Copy-Holder, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates to a novel copy-holder, and'has for its object to produce a simple and inexpensive device designed to hold stenographic or other copy in various po- `sitions to facilitate the transcriptionof the notes and capable of being easily and securely attached to either a horizontal or vertical ledge of a table or desk.

To the accomplishment of this object the invention in its preferred embodiment resides in that construction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter described,illustrated, in the accompanying drawings, and succinctly defined in the appended claims.

In said drawings, Figure l is a perspective View of our copy-holder secured to the edge of a table-top, the stenographers note-book being indicated in dotted lines. Fig 2 is a vertical sectional view of the subject-matter of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the ta ble-clam p adjusted with reference to the tu" bular support of the holder to facilitate the attachment o f the device to the verticallydisposed ledge at the back of a desk. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4 4 cf-Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the plate, showing the book-retaining clip and its mounting in plan.

Like characters of reference are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The holder proper of the copy-support isi the form of a light sheet-metal plate 1, having its lower edge bent at an angle to form a snpporting-iange 2for the book, and pro? vided with a wide hook 3, disposed transversely adjacent to its upper edge, and with a pair of somewhat smaller hooks 3a. in a lower plane. The hook 3 isformed by slitting the metal and bending back a lip of appropriate form and is designed to engage over the npper horizontal bar 4 of a rectangular plate holder 5, bent from a single strand of wire, one end of which extends from the center of the bottom bar of the holder to form a sup Vporting-rod 6. .The hooks 3t1 are also cut from the plate and engage the lower horizon tal bar of the holder 5 to prevent the plate from tilting backward when the larger portion of the book has been turned back. The. rod 6 is disposed vertically, and its upper end is bent, as indicatedat 7 to dispose the plate-holder at a proper angle, as shown in Fig. 2. The holder rest-s flat against the rear face of the plate l, and in order to render the device sub stantially noiseless when the plate is attached to or detached from the holder the top and `bottoni bars of the latter are covered-as, for

instance, byrubber or other similarsleeves 8. The supportingrod 6 o f the plate-holder `telescopes within a tube 9 and is secured in its longitudinally adjusted positions by a binding-screw lO, passedthrough the wall of the tube at its upper end and bearing against the rod, as shown in Fig. 2. If desired, the upper end of the tube may be reinforced by Ia collar 11, screwed thereon and serving to elongate the bearing of the binding-screw 10.

The tube 9 and rod 6, designed for relative adjustment, as stated, constitute an extensible support or standard for the copy-holder,

and while various devices might be utilized for connecting this standard to a table or other suitable support we prefer to employ what may be termed a table-clamp l2 of Arectangular form and having grooves 13 and `14 formed in two outer faces or edges thereof is shown applied to a horizontally-disposed table-top @,'with the binding-screw 15 bearing against the bottom or underside thereof. When the table-clamp is attached t0`a support of this character, the groove or concave seat 1,4 will be disposed vertically, and the tube will therefore be clamped therein by the tube-clamp 16, as shown. The clamp 16 is ICO designed to clamp the tubeQ in either of the grooves or seats 13 or 14, formed in the angularly-related faces of the table-clamp. Thus if the table-clamp is secured upon a horizontal ledge, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the groove or seat 14 will be disposed vertically and the tube 9 will be clamped in the seat or groove by the clamp 16. This clamp, which may be termed the tube-clamp or standardclamp, is composed of two parts 16 and 1Gb, having the form of plates, having loose pivotal connection at one end', as by a screw or bolt 17, and arranged to be drawn together by a thumb-screw 18, passed through the members at the opposite end of the clamp. The clamp member or part 16 is bent intermediate of its ends to conform'substantially to the cross-sectional contour of one side o; the table-clamp, (see Fig. 4,) and the other member or part 16b is curved outwardly opposite the adjacent groove or seat of the table-clamp to accommodate the tube 9, disposed within the seat. Thus it will be evident that the members of the tube-clamp 16 will embrace the tube 9 and the adjacent portion of the table-clamp and that the tube or standard. of the copy-holder may be securely clamped within the groove or seat of the table-clamp by drawing up the members 16L and 16b of the clamp 16 bymeans of the thumbscrew 18.

If it is desired to elevate the copy-holder, this may be done by loosening the bindingscrew 10 and drawing up the supporting-rod 6 until the holder is at the proper point, where it maybe retained by tightening the screw. If still greater adjustment is desired, the tubeclamp 16 may be loosened and the tube drawn up as far as possible, or if it is desired to locate the copy-holder close to the table the rod 6 may be passed all the way into the tube, as shown in Fig. 2, and the tube may be dropped to any desired extent. If, however, it is desired to attach the copy-holder to a vertically-disposed ledge, as indicated in Fig. 3, it may be attached thereto by disposing the ledge between the legs of the tableclamp and screwing up the binding screw 15 in an obvious manner. In this event the seat or groove 13 of the table-clamp will be disposed vertically and the tube will be retained therein by the clamp 16, which will have been removed from that portion of the table-clamp in which the seat 14 is formed. It should be noted that the same clamp 16 is utilized to retain the tube 9 in either of the grooves or seats 13 or 14 and that by the formation of these grooves in the outer faces of the clamp the necessity for an accurate interitting relation is avoided, as distinguished from those constructions in which a tubular standard is designed to be fitted into a cylindrical opening or socket in the tableclamp.

Aside from the tendency of the plate 1 to tilt, which tendency is overcome by the provision of the lower hooks 3a, the last leaves of a book tend to swinor out from and slide upward on the plate. r2Ihis we prevent by providing a book -retaining device in the form of a spring-clip 19. By preference this clip is produced by bending a single strand of spring-wire to obtain the clip proper, havingits upperend bent back from the plate and its lower end extending from spring-spirals v20, encircling a pin 2l, supported between a pair of ears 22, formed at the front edge of the flange 2. The extremities 23 of the wire are passed through an opening in the plate l, as shown, and are bent back to secure them in place. The clip yields to permit the book to be slipped to its place on the support and then bears against the leaves with suflicient force to prevent their premature displacement.

It is thought that from the foregoing the construction and operation of our copy-holder will be clearly comprehended; but, while the illustrated embodiment of the invention is believed at this time to be preferable, we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the structural details defined, as, ou the contrary, we reserve the right to effect such changes, modifications, and variations of the illustrated structure as may be fairly embraced within the scope of the protection prayed.

What we claim is- 1. In a copy-holder, the combination with a support for the copy, and a standard; of a rectangular table-clamp having two angularly-related outer faces formed with opensided channels or grooves extending the entire length thereof, and a clamping device embracing one portion of the table-clamp and the standard to retain the latter in one of the channels or grooves.

- 2. In a copy-holder, the combination with a plate for the support of the copy, of a plateholder comprising a rectangular frame detachably secured to the back of the plate, a supporting-rod extending verticallyfrom the plate-holder, a tube adjustably receiving said rod, and a table-clamp connected to the tube.

3. In a copy-holder, the combination with a copy-supporting plate provided with a hook extending rearwardly therefrom, of a plateholder having the form of a rectangular wire frame engaged by the hook and provided with a supporting-rod, a tube into which the rod is received, means for securing the rod and tube in relatively adjusted positions, a tube-clamp, and means for ad justably securing the tube thereto.

4. In a copy-holder, the combination with a copy-supporting plate provided with an integral rearwardly-extending hook adjacent to its upper end, of a plate-holder formed from a strand of wire and comprising a rectangular frame, a rod bent back from the frame and disposed vertically, the top bar of the frame being engaged by the hook of the plate, a tube receiving the vertical portion of the rod, a binding-screw for securing the IOO IIO

IZO

the hook, and a supportingrod extending from the center of the lower bar of the frame and having its upper end laterally offset, a tube adj ustably receiving the supporting-rod, a table-clamp having right-angularly-related seats, and a tube-clamp for adjustably retaining the tube in either of said seats.

6. In a copy-holder, the` combination with a plate provided with a rearwardly-extendin g hook, ofa plate-holder in the form of a rectangular frame having a flexible covering and engaged by the hook, an extensible standard for the plate-holder, and a table-clamp for attaching the standard to the table.

7. In a copy-holder, the combination with a plate provided with upper and lower hooks, of a plate-holder in the form of a rectangular frame having its upper and lower bars engaged by the hooks of the plate.

8. In a copy'holder,` the combination with a plate for the support of the copy, of a plateholder comprising a rectangular frame de taehably secured to the back of the plate, a standard extending vertically from the plateholder, and a table-clamp connected to the standard.

9. In a copy-holder, the combination with the plate provided with an integral back retaining-flange at its lower edge, and a pair of ears formed at the front edge of the iiange; of a pin supported between the ears, and a spring-clip bearing against the front of the plate and formed of a single strand of Wire bent to produce a pair of spring-spirals encircling the pin and terminals passed through the plate.

lO. In a copyholder, the combination with a plate provided at its bottom with an upwardly-extending clip, of a downwardly-extending hook at the back of the plate, and a detachable plate-holder engaged by said hook.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we havehereto allixed our signatu res in the presence Vof two Witnesses.

` FRANK M. DURHAM. p ALBERT PEEK.

Witnesses:

GovA M. RUSSELL, FRED'E. KING. 

